I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries: As punishment, God sent the Israelites to live in many different countries. The Hebrew words for scattered and were dispersed are synonyms, and these two clauses are also synonymous (see the comments on 12.15 and 20.23). For those languages where this repetition is unnatural, one of these clauses may be omitted (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation). The agent for the passive verb were dispersed is God, which may be made explicit by rendering these two clause as “I scattered them among other nations; I spread them throughout all the other countries.”

In accordance with their conduct and their deeds I judged them: God punished the Israelites just as they deserved for their evil behavior. New Century Version says “I punished them for how they lived and what they did,” and New International Reader’s Version has “I judged them based on how they acted and the way they lived.” Conduct and deeds renders the same Hebrew words translated “ways” and “doings” in verse 17 (see the comments there). It is better to be consistent and use the same words each time.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .